Inspiration

Ever wondered if your lack of artistic ability was due to your parents’ mathematical-minded genetics or their refusal to sign you up for after-school art classes? Or how your friend was a piano prodigy despite her dad barely being able to play a note?

Some believe that hereditary factors are responsible for one family producing generations of musical virtuosos, while others suggest that our cultural and environmental surroundings play a larger role than genetics.

The literature on creativity suggests that there are at least a few personality traits that promote creative behavior, such as openness, a willingness to take risks and an ability to tolerate ambiguity and cope with novel situations.

They were both Chinese immigrants to America—my father was a mechanic and my mother took care of the family. They taught me to work hard, take opportunities, accept responsibility and eschew cowardice, less by explicit direction and more by implicit influencContinue reading

A balanced composition feels right. It feels stable and aesthetically pleasing. While some of its elements might be focal points and attract your eye, no one area of the composition draws your eye so much that you can’t see the other areas.Continue reading

The person on the left makes the If one of the people was much bigger, though, the balance would be thrown off.seesaw rotate counterclockwise, and the person on the right makes it rotate clockwise by an equal amount. The force of each person acts in a different direction, and their sum is zero. Just as in the physical world, visual balance is a good thing. It’s desirable in and of itself.Continue reading